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April 10, 2014

Religion and Murder/Suicides

28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—

Al sent me this LINK in response to my previous blogs. He did not intend that it be taken seriously, just the opposite, but it really captured my attention.

The headline is: "Why Religion Tends To Encourage Family-Murder/Suicides". Now you have to admit, that is worth checking out. Here is the author's conclusion:

This suggests – to me anyway – that being religious predisposes one to suicide, particularly in the sense outlined above: that the afterlife psychology both falsely anaesthetises the fear of death, and also one’s construct of heaven encourages a ‘happy fictional solution’ to real world problems, which in the scheme of things, don’t really make sense.

The curious thing about this latter study [published in an Oxford Journal] is the very restrained view it takes over and against what the conclusion this author draws. This is the passage he quotes from the study...

Although a number of risk factors for suicide have been suggested, a low level of religious commitment or religiosity is a potential risk factor that merits further study.

First of all, it "merits further study", which is as tentative a conclusion as one can make, and secondly, in context it essentially says that "of those who demonstrate some level of religious interest or background, those with a low level of religious commitment or religiosity may have the greater risk for suicide." To my way of thinking, what is being said here is that "a little religion might be a dangerous thing", a conclusion with which I very much agree, as far as Christianity goes.

This particular study focuses on Utah for the simple reason that it is probably the most religious state in the nation. This gives a fairly high sampling in a relatively concise area. I do not intend to distinguish between religions in this article other than to mention that not all religions are equal and that includes those who profess atheism. But there is no question that Utah might very well be a good test tube for this study. Everyone knows that the LDS Church discourages alcohol and even coffee in its members, but interestingly enough, in the details of this report, the investigators make this statement:

Although substance abuse is confounded with our measure of religiosity, it is impossible to assess the degree of their confounding with the data at hand. For the reasons stated above, we believe that some, but not all, of the increased risk in suicide for less active LDS is attributable to higher levels of substance abuse.

Now taken at face value, this says that among those with "low levels of religiosity" (what Christians would call "Nominal Christians") that there is some correlation with increased risk of suicide if that is coupled with alcohol/drug abuse. OK... is there a chicken and egg situation here?

What appears to be the most immediate results of this study are: (1) that suicide rates have a negative correlation with strong commitments to religion [if that religion teaches against it, as does the LDS and Christian denominations, one cannot speak for suicide cults such as some of the more martial ones] if that religion promotes structures (strong family focus, male role models, etc.) which support the young male through difficult circumstances, and (2) that the combination of drugs and low religious commitments can cause a young man to despair of life.

The author of the first piece decries religion as proving itself worthless in the face of external pressures and thus contributing to the suicide rate. Interestingly enough, when you look at national figures, the United States is 33rd among the nations in this area with 12 suicides per 100k people per year. The United States is arguably one of the most religious nations on earth (though that is changing). I cannot speak very knowledgeably about the nations above the US other than in a few cases, but China, Russia and Japan all rate much higher on the scale and the only distinctly religious country that I am aware of in those above the US is South Korea. In the instances of Japan, China and South Korea, I would suggest a much higher correlation is the intense pressure for material success that these national populations face at the individual level. [See HERE]

So, as I am certain Al would agree, this particular author is pretty far removed from support for his primary conclusions. I wonder if he is in that category of being one for whom "religion" failed and he is now very reactive to it. I hope not... I just don't know.

The bottom line of it all from my scan of this material is this: As Jesus said - "count the cost". Religion is not something to dabble in... or a superficial glaze to put on an irreglious life-style... or a back up plan in case you die and find out that God is real after all. Christianity is quite clear on this... Jesus Himself teaches it... being luke warm and just confessing with the mouth though the heart is far from Him, is deadly... it leaves a person without hope in heaven and no spiritual resources on earth. A case might be made, from Scripture not from statistics, that giving our children a glaze of religion places them at greater risk, not lesser risk, when they leave the home and enter that world of higher "education."

It's a tough world out there... children need the armor of God to fight in it... "a little bit of religion is a dangerous thing."